Spectacular fall roses

I'm a big fan of flowering kale and especially of these spectacular kale roses. I've been hunting for them for years since seeing them in a great fall garden in western Massachusetts. I was wandering around the flower shop at Fresh Market the other day - they have amazing single stem flowers - and whooo-eee, came across these beauties! Here's a close-up of the roses with their variegated leaves and "petals".

I've done some researching on The Google and finally found that Harris Seed Company has the seeds for these beauties. I'm definitely going to try planting some this spring; I can already see a huge vase filled with these roses. The Captain grows roses ( I tell him that growing roses is the hobby of old men) and his roses are lovely, but think these kale ones can hold their own. Plus, they have the distinct advantage of making their appearance in the fall. No rose fragrance obviously, but a girl can't be greedy.

This is how the stems look - very long - about 18 inches and obviously the lower leaves have all been removed.

We found these several years ago in front of a cottage in St. Andrews by the Sea in New Brunswick. These might be a dwarf version of the ones in my vase.

This fall appreciation program is really working!

The Whole Canvas

So, here's the canvas! Montana daughter received it and thankfully, loves it. Turns out they just installed an architectural element above their bed, and my canvas has a beautiful new home there.

It was fun making this and a learning experience as well. I'm going to try some smaller pieces - this one is 16x20 and all that space can be daunting. I discovered my new favorite stamping tool - a rolled up piece of foam grip shelf liner. Think you can see some of the random stamping I did with it. I didn't ink the liner, just stamped it on dry to lift-off some background paint.

I love the moment when some treasure that's been carefully saved finds just the right spot in a piece. I picked up the rusty, smooshed spring ages ago in a parking lot and it works here. The key-hole piece was rescued from a bucket of rusty bits at the Brimfield Fair. (Go there is you ever get the chance- there are acres of lovelies to buy and possibilities in everything). This serendipitous use of stuff just reinforces the urge to save everything. I often waffle over pieces of paper, bits of fibers or whatever that I think should just go to the recycling, but that just might be useful in some project. Restraint is not one of my strengths! I figure that's why all art supply stores have large sections devoted to storage containers.

Making Peace with Fall

"It is better to embrace all the seasons than to be hopelessly in love with spring".

I've always struggled with the end of summer. Fall seems depressing, a place -holder until that most dreaded of all seasons, W.I.N.T.E.R.. This year I've decided that as a matter of personal growth (!), I'd work on embracing this season. I really like so much about fall - the warm days and crisp, cool nights, the bright sunny skies, apples, pumpkins, county fairs, and the beautiful colors of falling leaves. It doesn't make sense to deny myself the pleasures of today because of the brutal, nasty, god-awful days of winter that follow. (This personal growth embrace-the-seasons thing is obviously a work-in-progress).

I usually wait to do any kind of fall-themed decorating until late October. I go out and buy the last three ratty mums available and dutifully plop them in the garden. (Speaking of mums, even though I'm trying to embrace The Fall, I do think that nurseries that start selling mums in July are pushing it - like stores that are selling Valentine's candy before Christmas)!

This year, I bought mums in September, pulled out some of the still-blossoming summer flowers and started my Fall -appreciation program. Funny how the nicer mums look, well, nice!

One sure sign of fall at our house is acorns, hundreds of acorns. We are surrounded by huge oak trees, and in early September they start dropping acorns. It's really a fun sound - acorns dropping onto the driveway, the top of the car, the roof, and rolling off the roof of the car as I drive off. Sweeping up all those acorns is a production - yesterday I swept up a wheel-barrow full. I am hearing more falling as we speak......